A third teenager has been taken into custody in connection with the planned attack during Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour in Austria.
On Thursday (8.08,) local authorities confirmed that an 18-year-old suspect was arrested following a 19-year-old Austrian with North Macedonian roots and a 17-year-old with Turkish and Croatian roots were caught several days prior.
According to reports from the Austrian Home Secretary Gerhard Karner, the latest suspect is reported as an Iraqi citizen, and that the teen is “not directly connected to the attack plans” but that he had been in contact with the main 19-year-old suspect – who was arrested on Wednesday (8.07.)
Sky News has reported that a fourth teenager, aged 15, was questioned by police, but has not yet been arrested.
From Thursday through Saturday, Swift had planned to perform her record-breaking Eras World Tour at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna. However, the three concerts were cancelled after the plot to attack the venue was circumvented on Wednesday (8.07) with reports claiming one of the suspects had been hired to work as part of the security team operating at the venue.
Additional reports stated that two of the suspects vowed allegiance to the terrorist organization ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and that they had been radicalized by online content.
Addressing the intended plot – which included plans to stab music fans and detonate a bomb – on Friday (8.09) United Nations spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci said that it was a, “good demonstration that radicalization of people through the use of social media is really a concern”.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Ronald Woan